Heading to New Orleans

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

Wish me luck F-Body brothers and sisters...I got the call so I'm heading out tomorrow morning. Will probably be off-line for the next three weeks. I'm not sure if I'll be stationed on one of our response vessels or landside in Port Fourchon (sp?). Not looking forward to this one...it's an absolute mess down there.

[thenuge876]

Good Luck down there, hope you stay safe and all and everyone is ok witht he relief effort, its defiantely a hard job good luck again.

[Jeanius]

Good luck Bro, I wish you a safe trip and return

[Craig 94 TA GT]

Good luck and be safe.

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

Thanks guys...it's going to be rough. Brings back bad memories...Atlanta 1996, 9/11, Hurricane Ivan, now this...seems like I'm stuck in a bad nightmare...every year sommething worse. Guess it comes with the territory..


If I can get online, I'll try to post updates as I see them...till then.

[wolfdogs]

stay safe. might see you there.......

im on a list of volunteers for GSA.

[Performin Norman]

Be careful and come back safely.

[Steel2686]

Have a safe stay and return.

[95TransAm]

I wish you a safe trip and return.

Good luck with everything.

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

Update #1

Well, I made it. I had to fly into Houston, then drive nearly 4 hours to Lake Charles, LA. 2:30 this morning, I had to drive to Morgan City, LA, which is about 3.5 hours east of Lake Charles, to bring emergency medication to a helicopter site. One of our responders out in the Gulf on our Gulf Coast Responder vessel had an allergic reaction and required meds. Needless to say, I'm shot...

Anyway, I'm going to be based here in Morgan City, LA with a medic. We'll be visiting our sub-stations in Houma, Port Fouchon, and Grand Isle. Will keep you informed as to how things are going. Interestingly, even here in Morgan City, the officials have enacted a 7:00 PM curfew. Seems like the troublemakers have spread out of New Orleans and have been causing trouble throughout the region. It's a real shame how these scumbags are taking away coverage from the real heros out there...

[Steel2686]

Well, I made it. I had to fly into Houston, then drive nearly 4 hours to Lake Charles, LA. 2:30 this morning, I had to drive to Morgan City, LA, which is about 3.5 hours east of Lake Charles, to bring emergency medication to a helicopter site. One of our responders out in the Gulf on our Gulf Coast Responder vessel had an allergic reaction and required meds. Needless to say, I'm shot...

Anyway, I'm going to be based here in Morgan City, LA with a medic. We'll be visiting our sub-stations in Houma, Port Fouchon, and Grand Isle. Will keep you informed as to how things are going. Interestingly, even here in Morgan City, the officials have enacted a 7:00 PM curfew. Seems like the troublemakers have spread out of New Orleans and have been causing trouble throughout the region. It's a real shame how these scumbags are taking away coverage from the real heros out there...

Great to hear you made it okay. Good luck out there and stay safe.

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

Today's events...

Sept. 6, 2005, 4:21AM

PASCAGOULA, MISS. - Chevron Corp. is hurriedly erecting an evacuee village, the first step toward bringing its huge refinery here back on stream.

Exxon Mobil Corp. is running newspaper ads trying to locate employees, while Shell Oil Co. is offering workers emergency cash and interest-free loans.

Energy companies scrambling to restart operations along the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast are struggling to locate their workers and help them stitch together their lives before reporting back to work.

"We need our employees to have their minds on what they're doing," said Roland Kell, manager of Chevron's Pascagoula plant.

Certainly, energy industry employees have their work cut out for them. Katrina laid waste to power lines, crippled pipelines and knocked out more than 10 percent of the country's oil refining capacity at its worst.

In the coming week, refineries will be slowly getting back into production, but much work remains.

A spokeswoman for Marathon Oil said Monday the 245,000 barrel-per-day Garyville refinery in Louisiana would be up and operating today.

Shell reported that chemical plants in Mobile, Ala., and just outside New Orleans are slowly restarting.

But bringing back refineries owned by a Shell's joint venture with Saudi Aramco, called Motiva, may take longer. According to a statement from Motiva, the Convent and Norco refineries near Baton Rouge and New Orleans should be back on line this week.

Together they have a capacity to process 470,000 barrels of crude per day.

Valero Energy Corp., the largest U.S. oil refiner, said it expects to start up its refinery in St. Charles, La., at midweek. That company is still to hear from nine of its employees in the area.

Locating the lost
The first challenge for these companies is locating the many workers the storm scattered. Many companies have set up hot lines for them.

Sometimes, however, those phone lines aren't enough.

Exxon Mobil ran an ad in the Chronicle over the weekend entreating workers from its Chalmette refinery to call in.

"We are anxious to make contact to ensure that you and your families are safe and to discuss any company assistance you may need," the ad said.

While workers may be eager to return to work, they'll need to feel like their loved ones are safe and adequately housed.

BP has more than 1,000 employees in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama — most connected with offshore oil and natural gas operations. While they all made it out alive, problems at home are still a burden for many. BP is offering generators to workers whose homes remain dark a week after the storm and temporary housing and a cash per diem if they head toward higher ground in Texas.

Chevron officials aren't contemplating restarting the 325,000-barrel-per-day Pascagoula refinery until sometime this week, when they hope to finish building temporary housing for 1,500. These structures include barracks-style tents for housing as well as food and hospital facilities. So far only about 300 of their 1,200 workers were homeless because of the storm, but the company wants to provide lodging for their employees' families as well. Kell said living space will be air-conditioned and meals will be catered.

The temporary housing should take the immediate pressure off employees until they are capable of providing their own housing, he said.

"We recognize the importance of restarting," Kell said. "But we need to make sure our people are mentally prepared for this."

Workers who have lost virtually everything also need cash.

Shell is offering workers $2,500 in emergency funds, as well as another $7,500 for repairs and replacement, and interest-free loans of up to $40,000.

Exxon is offering employees a one-time $5,000 lump-sum payment for emergency living expenses, as well as the use of company cars until month's end for reasonable personal use.

Repair work ahead
Much of the repair work remains to be done offshore.

Over the weekend the Coast Guard reported that 21 offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were swamped by the storm, while 20 rigs were either damaged or are still missing.

All together, 265 platforms and rigs remain evacuated in the Gulf, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service.

A little more than 1 million barrels a day of oil production, or 70 percent of daily average amount, and 5.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas production per day, or 54 percent of daily average in the Gulf of Mexico, remain shut in as of Monday, the agency reported.

Companies trying to send employees back offshore have been stymied by damage at key staging areas such as Port Fourchon, La.

J.P. Peplinski, director of oil-field services for TQ3Navigant, a company that coordinates transportation and housing for energy crews, said about "75 percent of our drilling clients' crews were back to work" by the end of last week.

"But the production companies have had a tougher time," she said.

Even before the storm, of course, the energy industry was desperate to find qualified workers. Hundreds of thousands have left this boom-and-bust industry over the past two decades and have been reluctant to return.

David Dismukes, a professor at Louisiana State University's Center for Energy Studies, believes a shortage of workers will continue to be a problem as the Gulf Coast's onshore economy tries to rebuild.

"The energy industry work force has been dwindling since 1996, so once rebuilding starts onshore, we're going to getting a lot of competition for labor," he said. "That welder we want repairing a platform will also be asked to work in downtown New Orleans."

Looks like the response is changing now from a people rescue focus to an oil assessment and cleanup focus...things are getting busy for me now.

[Barry 94Formula]

Thanks in advance for what you are about to do. Be careful. One day I will go back home, but it will probably be as a Tourist.

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

The destruction is really starting to affect me...feel helpless. I've been travelling all over the lower parts of Lousiana, mostly down to Port Fouchon in Lafouche Parish. It's really difficult...

For the past few days, I've been hearing cries for help on the local radio station out of Larose. What really hit home is the pleas for baby supplies. I decided I've got to do something...think out of the box.

Knowing that Bristol Meyers Squibb makes Enfamil, I decided to reach out for help. I contacted them and was told Meade Johnson are the people to call. I was then put in touch with a woman from Meade Johnson who was trying to coordinate the distribution of formula. Apparently, loads of supplies were sent down but stuck north of Baton Rouge. Trucks and Fed-Ex are not running down near Houma or further south. I explained what is going on in Bayou country - which extends several hundred square miles south of New Orleans. I told her if she can find a way to get the supplies to Houma, I would do the rest.

Friday, I am expecting a large shipment of baby formula to be shipped to our company pre-position site in Houma from the Baton Rouge staging area. I will fill my car to the hilt and drive it down to where it's needed as long as I'm here. I contacted the radio station in the Parish and told them help is coming!! The word is out and local area groups in the Parish will be coordinating distribution.

I just hope it's enough...I wish I could do more, but I've got to do something. These babies have two options for survival - mother's milk or formula. No quantity of clothes or MRE's in the world is enough. They need to eat! There are literaly thousands and thousands of forgotten families in lower LA. They are told to drive an hour north and wait in hours long lines to get food stamps. Well guess what? If these people had enough money (or a functioning car) to drive that far to get food stamps, they wouldn't need them in the first place. Most still have no power! With temperatures in the upper 90's it's unbearable! Yet, New Orleans is getting nearly all of the attention...what about these people? When are they going to get help???confused:

Having three kids of my own, I cannot except babies starving in the USA. Not going to happen on my watch.

Well, need to get some sleep now...been travelling several hundred miles a day making sure my guys have what they need to do their jobs safely. With this latest help coming from BMS/Meade Johnson,, maybe I can make a small difference while I'm here.

Will update you as to how "Project Baby Formula" goes on Friday. :

[Steel2686]

Wow... That is simply awesome what you are doing for those kids. I have three myself, and couldn't imagine a baby going without nourishment. Keep up the great work and know you are doing your fellow F-body brothers and sisters proud. Stay safe.